398 
TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON. 
\August, 
wings, flew about us. During tlie nigbt I saw several 1 
meteors, and in fact could not be in a better position I 
for observing them, tlian lying on my back in a small I 
boat in the middle of the Atlantic. We also saw a flock | 
of small birds fly by, making a chirping noise; the ] 
sailors did not know what they were. I 
The 9th was again fine and hot, and my blistered 
hands were very painful. No ship appeared in sight, 
though we were crossing the track of the West India 
vessels. It was rather squally, and I passed a nervous, | 
uncomfortable night; our boats did not however now 
leak so much, which was a great satisfaction. 
The 10th was squally, and the wind veered to the ! 
south-west, so that we could not make our course for 
Bermuda, but were obliged to go to the north of it. The 
sea ran very high, and sudden gusts of wind would fre- 
quently heel us over in a manner very alarming to me. 
We had some heavy showers of rain, and should have 
liked to have caught some fresh water, but could not, 
as all our clothes and the sails were saturated with salt. 
Our position at noon was in latitude 31° 59' north, lon- 
gitude 57° 22' west. 
The 11th was still rough and squally. There was less 
gulf-weed now. The wind got still more to the west- 
ward, so that we were obliged to go nearly north. Our 
boats had now got swollen with the water, and leaked 
very little. This night I saw some more falling stars. 
On the 12th the wind still kept foul, and we were 
getting quite out of the track of ships, and appeared to 
have but little chance of reaching Bermuda. The long- 
boat passed over some green water to day, a sign of 
